A television executive, leaning on a wall in a hotel hallway during the Big 12 Conference meetings two weeks ago in Kansas City, Mo., offered a prophetic bit of wisdom for anyone who dared speculate on the league's future. “If you think you know, you don't know,” he said. “No one does.”

Now, everyone knows, and thanks to that executive's big-money business, the Big 12's impending breakup has turned into a stunning makeup.

Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma, linchpins in the Big 12's survival, all said Monday that they intend to stick with the besieged league, down two members after Colorado and Nebraska split last week for the Pacific-10 and Big Ten.

In the occasionally off-kilter world of college athletics, the Big Ten now has 12 schools. The Big 12 has 10 — and the league is fortunate to have as many.